James Shapiro (U. Chicago) "The read-write genome"

Date
Feb 18, 2013, 12:00 pm1:00 pm
Location
Joseph Henry Room
Audience
Physics faculty, post docs, grads

Details

Event Description
The colloquium will discuss the ways that cells inscribe information onto and into their genomes at different time scales. These range from individual cell cycles to evolutionary time. The main emphasis will be on genomic inscriptions at the DNA level. Contrary to popular impressions, DNA inscriptions are active, non-random processes mediated by well-established cellular and molecular mechanisms. A number of different examples of this active DNA writing process in evolution will be described based on genome sequencing data. Some genomic differences between mice and men will be highlighted.
Lunch @ 11:45, talk @ 12-1:00